


Last Call

by specialisthalstead



Series: SWAT!Jay Alternate Universe [7]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, But only a little, F/M, Fist Fights, Fluff and Humor, SWAT!Jay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specialisthalstead/pseuds/specialisthalstead
Summary: “Surprise!” Mouse’s grin slightly falters when Jay continues gaping at him.Once his still somewhat sleep-muddled brain catches up, the biggest grin forms on his face and Jay pulls his best friend in for a hug. He pulls back to punch Mouse in the arm. “What the hell, man? I thought you weren’t supposed to be stateside until next week!”
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Series: SWAT!Jay Alternate Universe [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743577
Comments: 5
Kudos: 86





	Last Call

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on [tumblr](https://bleedinghearthalstead.tumblr.com/post/619480204145983488/).

Jay startles awake at his phone buzzing on his nightstand. The room is pitch dark except for the blinking screen of his cell, somebody calling him. He checks the alarm clock next to him and lowly grumbles, seeing that it is 1.44 a.m. Grabbing the offending and still vibrating object, he squints at the screen. When he sees the caller ID, his heart skips a beat.

He throws the blanket off of him and gets up off the bed, quickly pressing the green icon. "Hey man, just give me a sec," he whispers and tiptoes out of his bedroom, careful not to disturb Hailey who is still asleep. She stirs only for a second, then turns around to her other side and is fast asleep again. Quietly closing the bedroom door behind him, Jay goes back to the call. "Buddy, everything alright?" He doesn't usually get calls from the other person at this time of night unless it's urgent.

"Jay, I need you to do me a favor-" And Jay immediately starts going through a list in his head which DOD or Army Intelligence contacts he is still friendly with. "-and open your door."

His mental rundown comes to a grinding halt. "What?"

"Open your door?" He can hear the other man chuckling on the other end.

Jay quickly walks to his apartment door and pulls it open, revealing Mouse in his army fatigues and tan beret, green duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Jay can only stare.

"Surprise!" Mouse's grin slightly falters when Jay continues gaping at him.

Once his still somewhat sleep-muddled brain catches up, the biggest grin forms on his face and Jay pulls his best friend in for a hug. He pulls back to punch Mouse in the arm. "What the hell, man? I thought you weren't supposed to be stateside until next week!"

"We achieved our mission objective early and then I kept bugging Captain Morello about moving up my leave until he got fed up with me and put me on the next cargo transport to Germany. And then it was another 20 plus hours to get from Germany to JFK and from JFK to O'Hare."

Jay takes a good look at his friend – Mouse looks a little tired but happy. Happier than he was a year ago, before he decided to re-enlist. Jay had gotten him a job as a CPD tech, but after a couple of years it was clear that Mouse wanted (and needed) to move on to something else. Although Jay still doesn’t like the fact that Mouse went back to the Army considering what it did to both of them, he is glad to see that his friend has been doing well for himself.

"Welcome home, man." They grin at each other and Jay ushers Mouse inside the apartment. Jay closes the door and when he turns, he bumps into Mouse, who hasn't moved more than two steps into the place, and Jay gets a face full of stinky, dusty Army canvas. He scrunches up his nose in disgust. "Dude-" Before he can say another word, Jay spots Hailey standing by the bedroom door, not even six feet away from them. He must've not heard her get up. "Oh hey, babe. Sorry, did we wake you?"

Hailey only raises an eyebrow at her boyfriend. Jay's place is tiny and the walls are paper-thin, you can hear his next-door neighbor's TV through the wall. When she woke up to find Jay not in bed with her and heard voices coming from the other side of the bedroom door, she decided to investigate. Having heard their conversation, she deduces that the man in uniform standing in front of her is Jay's ranger friend who he had mentioned was supposed to come home next week and stay with Jay for a couple of days. Seems like he got into the city a little earlier than expected. She turns to Mouse with a warm smile and sticks out her hand. "Hi, I'm Hailey. You must be Greg."

Surprised to hear his given name – these days it's only coming from his mother or Jay if they're having a really serious talk –, Mouse drops his duffle to shake her hand enthusiastically. "Hi! Greg, yes, Greg. Everyone calls me Mouse though." Only when he sees that Hailey is just wearing an oversized shirt, her legs bare, and she looks like she just woke up – because she did, and looking at Jay, he looks like he just woke up too – does Mouse realize the time, his body clock still in another time zone. "Oh fuck, what time is it?"

"It's almost 2 a.m., buddy," Jay chuckles.

"Oh fuck, shit, I'm so sorry." He fumbles with the buttons on his watch. "I forgot to change the time on this thing."

"It's fine, man." Jay pats his friend on the back. "You want a beer?" When Hailey tilts her head at him in question, he shrugs at her. He won't be able to fall asleep now anyways, too hyped up by his friend's surprise appearance. When he sees Mouse fidgeting and glancing between Hailey and him, he says, "Why don't you go in the kitchen and get us a couple of pilsners?"

Mouse lets out the breath he was holding, glad for the distraction. "Sure, I'll be right back."

As soon as Mouse is out of sight, Jay moves closer to Hailey and leans in to give her a kiss. "Sorry we woke you up."

"That's alright. You weren't expecting him either, I take it?"

Jay sighs. "Like I said, I thought he was coming home next week. I didn't think he was gonna drop by like this." He scratches his head. "Listen, we're just gonna have a couple of beers, get Mouse settled in-"

"It's okay, I'll get the spare blanket and pillow from the closet."

Hailey is about to walk off, but he grabs her hand to stop her and smiles at her gratefully. "Thanks, babe."

"No problem."

When she disappears into the bedroom, Jay goes into the kitchen, finding Mouse already sitting at the small dining table, three open beer bottles in front of him. Mouse hands him one of the beers, taking the other one. They clink the bottles together. Jay sits down with a sigh, taking a large gulp of the beer.

"Hailey's not joining us?" Mouse nods at the third beer.

The other man shakes his head. "She's making up your bed for tonight."

Mouse grimaces. "Oh man, she doesn't have to, and again, I'm really sorry to barge in unannounced… especially if I had known that she was living here-"

Jay laughs. "She doesn't live here. If anything, I'd move into her place, it's much bigger and nicer."

His girlfriend comes up behind him at that moment and puts her hands on his shoulders, smirking. "The only reason we're here so much is because he lives closer to my district."

"So you're just using me?" Hailey slaps his arm as Jay laughs.

"I'll leave you two to it." She leans down to kiss Jay. "Don't stay up too late." She then smiles at Mouse. "Nice to meet you, Mouse. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she exits the kitchen.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question," Jay calls after her, but only receives a giggle and a "goodnight, boys" in return before he hears the bedroom door close. He shakes his head, but has a dopey smile on his face.

"So that's Hailey, huh?" Mouse smirks at his best friend.

"Yep, that's Hailey." Jay takes another pull of the beer.

When Jay doesn't say anything else, Mouse rolls his eyes. His friend can be really reticent if he wants to. "When you talked about her, I didn't think you guys were that serious…"

Jay looks at him indignantly. "We've been dating for like six months!"

"Yeah, but whenever you mention her, you just say that you're hanging out and it's hard finding the time to be with her, what with work – she's police too, right? It just sounded more casual, is all." Mouse raises an eyebrow at him. "And even if you're saying she's not living here, I'm pretty sure that she spends more time here than you think." At Jay's frown, he points at the tea kettle. "You don't drink tea, buddy."

"So what? That's like one thing," Jay says, somehow irked.

"There were at least three pairs of shoes and a couple of jackets at the door that are definitely not yours." Mouse starts ticking things off on his fingers. "There was folded laundry from the both of you in the living room, you've got decorative pillows and a really nice throw blanket on the couch, there was a bottle of nail polish and a box of hair ties on the coffee table, it smells really nice in here and-" He points at the three little potted plants sitting on the window sill. "-the Halstead I know is a stone-cold plant killer."

Jay can only stare at his best friend, the beer bottle stopped mid-raise to his mouth. He's somewhat shocked at what Mouse could glean of their relationship in the few minutes he's been here. Surprised, not really. Mouse is one of the smartest people he knows – he always wonders how the CIA or NSA haven't poached him from the Army yet – and he wouldn't call him his best friend for nothing.

Mouse can read him like an open book. "Look, this isn't a bad thing, I'm happy for you." He shrugs. "I don't know why you felt like you had to hide it. Like, do other people even know you're dating?"

Frowning, Jay thinks about what his friend just said and it's kind of true. Hailey has met his team guys and they've gone out drinking before, and he's also met a couple of Hailey's friends, but except for the occasional night out, it's usually just the two of them. A lot of the time, they just hang out at his or Hailey's place. They did establish quite early on that they were exclusively dating, but how much of that have they shown to the outside world? Jay doesn't know. And it's been half a year. Half a year of them unintentionally playing down their relationship? They're both not that big on PDA, but he loves Hailey, he's pretty damn sure Hailey loves him too and they're very happy together. So why are they hiding?

Mouse thankfully changes the subject when he realizes he's hit a nerve and fills Jay in on the happenings in the battalion and how much the forward operating base in Afghanistan has changed from the time they were there in 2008 because of the troop drawdown. They spend another hour or so catching up until Jay starts yawning every couple of minutes. Mouse absolves him from having to stay up with him just so he has some company, citing that he'll be fine reading the magazine he bought at the airport, so Jay heads back to bed.

Lying down next to Hailey mindful not to wake her again, he cuddles up to her back, draping his arm over her waist. Sighing contently, he is ready to drift off to sleep.

"All good?" He hears her whisper sleepily. When she pulls his arm tighter around her, he smiles and kisses the back of her head.

"Yeah, all good." Jay falls asleep to the sound of Hailey's breathing.

* * * * *

Mouse insists on inviting them out for drinks the next night, still feeling guilty about his impromptu visit in the middle of the night. They agree on meeting in a pub not far from Jay's apartment, so a police detective, a SWAT sniper and an Army Ranger walk into a bar… The place is packed since it's a Friday night, people squeezing into the place to celebrate the end of their work week. Irish-inspired rock music and loud talking fills the air. They were just barely able to snag a tiny table with only one bar stool that Hailey gets to sit on, Jay standing next to her and Mouse on the other side of the table.

"The last time we were on leave together," Mouse almost has to shout over the loud din in the pub, "We were in a club and Jay got so wasted that he tripped and poured his beer all over a group of girls and almost started a fight-"

"I didn't start a fight!"

"You almost did and me and our buddies had to drag Jay outside and-"

"I would've been fine walking out on my own, thank you very much."

Mouse laughs. "You could barely get off the floor, man. I had to pay a taxi driver an extra 50 bucks before he agreed to take us home."

"I paid you back!"

"And in the taxi, he puk-"

"Let me stop you right there." Jay playfully glares at his friend. "You know I have just as much dirt on you, buddy."

Hailey is laughing at their banter, excited to hear stories of Jay's past. They have been together for a few months now, but a lot of Jay's military days are still somewhat of a mystery to her. He's let her in on a few select things, but usually only when he startled awake from a nightmare and woke up Hailey in the process, and even then he's very sparse with the details. So it's good to have someone like Mouse there to bring back positive memories from that time, even if they're somewhat disgusting.

A few times during the evening, Hailey thinks she might be imagining it, but Jay is a little more touchy-feely than usual. When they go out with other people, they of course stay close to each other, but Jay normally wouldn't be standing behind her, hugging her, or kiss her randomly. It's not like they're full-on making out in front of Mouse, although it does seem to have something to do with him. Maybe Jay just doesn't like showing his affection in front of other people or he's just more comfortable with his best friend. Hailey doesn't know what to think when Mouse smirks at them like he knows something they don't.

More than a few rounds later, they are surprised when last call is announced by the bartender and looking around they realize that they are some of the last patrons left. Mouse heads over to the bar to get a last round of drinks for them even when Hailey tells him no and Jay excuses himself to go to the restroom, leaving Hailey at their table. She pulls out her phone to check the time, sighing when she sees that it's already 2 a.m. Even though the evening has been fun, she'll be glad to head home. Mouse's late arrival combined with the man hunt for a murderer earlier today, she feels the need for sleep pulling at her.

"Hey beautiful," a voice comes from behind her, "You here all alone? Why don't you hang out with us?" She turns around and is confronted by two big bald guys dressed in all black, looking like a set of Humpty Dumpty twins on steroids.

Convinced that this is some kind of a joke, Hailey laughs. "No thanks, guys, I'm good."

"Come on now, we'll show you a good time. We know where to party all night long."

Before she has a chance to reply, Jay sidles up next to her, effectively putting himself between her and the two other men. "Sorry guys, she's with me."

They look Jay up and down and scoff. This is one instance where Hailey has to curse Jay's baby face. If you were looking at them as a bystander, it would look like her boyfriend didn't stand a chance. Jay isn't short, but the other men are at least a couple of inches taller than him and about twice his body size. And for whatever reason Jay decided today was a good day to wear a polo shirt and khakis, it makes him look like a preppy college kid facing off against two angry thugs.

"Listen, Lake Forest," Thug #1 says, looking down at Jay, "why don't you get out of my way so I can show her what it's like to be with a real man."

"I said she's with me," Jay growls and if his tone is more possessive than he intended, he's blaming it on the alcohol. "Now get out of here."

"Or what?" Thug #1 chuckles. "I'll lay you out right where you stand."

"Jay, no," Hailey tries to hold him back, but he's already moving towards Thug #1.

Jay gives him a condescending look. "I'd like to see you try."

And then it pops off. Thug #1 swings a fist at Jay's face, but Jay saw that move coming a mile away and ducks, hitting the other guy with two swift and surgical punches in the solar plexus. Watching his friend fall to the floor gasping, Thug #2 charges at Jay, but before he can take a step towards him, Mouse is already on his back, his arms going around his neck in a chokehold. The guy tries to shake the ranger off to no avail, his face turning beet red. He starts wildly tapping Mouse's arm, but Mouse only lets him go once he drops to his knees, heavily coughing.

Thug #1 decides to go for another round and roaring, he jumps up and pulls a knife out of his boot. The blade slices the air in front of Jay's face as Jay quickly pulls back. When he goes in for another stab, Jay slaps the guy's wrist with both hands, easily disarming him. Then yanking the other man towards him by the arm with one hand, his other hand at the back of the other man's neck, Jay pulls him down and knees him first in the stomach and then in the head, leaving the guy writhing on the floor. He kicks the knife away to a safe distance.

Alerted to the commotion, the thugs' four friends – all looking like they stepped straight out of a damn Eastern European gangster movie, either in track suits or leather jackets – rush over to help their downed comrades, poised and ready to get in the fight, one of them also drawing a knife.

Hailey has seen enough. She pulls out her badge and service weapon, holding them up in warning, then yells as loudly as she can, "Police! Don't move!" She points her gun directly at the man with the knife. "You, drop the knife!" He complies easily enough and the knife hits the floor with a clank. Hailey turns to the rest of the bar. "Everyone who doesn't want to get arrested tonight, get out of here, NOW!"

When Thug #1 tries to crawl away, Jay rolls his eyes and stops him with a boot on his back. "Not you, you moron." He turns to Hailey. "You got cuffs on you?"

Hailey shakes her head no, then grimaces. If they arrest the two, they have to call the police and go down to the district, do all the paperwork, give witness statements, which is going to take hours and Hailey is _tired_.

With the pub now empty except for them, Humpty and Dumpty and the bartender, Hailey turns to the latter. "You wanna press charges?"

The bartender shrugs. There's a couple of broken glasses on the floor and stools thrown over, but the damage is minimal. "Not if you don't."

"Alright then." Hailey orders the offenders to hand over their wallets, photographing their IDs with her phone, then takes out a couple of bills and leaves the money on the bar top. She sends off the pair with a warning to never show their faces in the bar again.

Walking home, Jay has his arm draped over Hailey's shoulder while she has her arm around his back. Mouse is walking next to them, jumping up and down excitedly. "That was fun!"

"Oh my God," Hailey groans and Jay smacks him upside the head.

Mouse just laughs. "We need to go clubbing tomorrow!"


End file.
